THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 221 



Many it is a trial of strength and speed. Formerly, 

 bloody affrays took place almost every year ; each 

 party endeavouring to outrun and carry its mahmal 

 in advance of the other. Two hundred lives have 

 on some occasions been lost in supporting- what was 

 thought the honour of their respective caravans. 



The cause of this precipitation is, that the ritual 

 orders the mogreb or prayer of the setting sun, to be 

 said at Mezdelifa, a mosque or oratory two hours 

 distant. The departure and march is a scene of 

 splendid confusion ; many pilgrims had lost their 

 companions, others their camels, who were heard 

 calling loudly for their drivers, or searching for them 

 over the plain. As it was dark, innumerable torches 

 were lighted, emitting sparks of fire ; there w^ere 

 continual volleys of artillery ; sky-rockets were let 

 off ; and bands of martial music played till they 

 arrived at the mosque. Here another sermon is 

 preached by torchlight, commencing with the first 

 dawn, and continuing till the sun rises above the 

 horizon, when the pilgrims move onward to Wady 

 Muna, a distance of three miles. 



This narrow valley, enclosed on both sides by 

 steep barren cliffs of granite, contains a single street 

 of houses, built of stone, some of which are inhab- 

 ited, but the greater part in ruins. It abounds w4th 

 sacred relics. Here is the mosque of Meshed el Kheif, 

 in which the Arabs assert that Adam w^as buried ; 

 here Abraham intended to sacrifice his son, and a 

 granite block is shown, alleged to have been cleft in 

 two by the stroke of his knife ; here Mohanmied was 

 favoured with many of his revelations ; and here the 

 devil had the malice to whisper Tshmael in the ear 

 that he was about to be slain ; — other traditions say, 

 he attempted to obstruct his father in his passage at 

 three different places, which are marked by as many 

 stone pillars. The first duty of the pilgrim is to 

 provide himself with twenty-one small pebbles of 

 the size of a horse-bean : these he must throw at the 



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